


we tried the world (good god it wasn't for us)

by muslimsmoak



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, Arrow 3x14, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Neighbors AU, idk what this was supposed to be but it started soft with a hint of trauma, neighbors to lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-22
Updated: 2020-04-22
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23790991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muslimsmoak/pseuds/muslimsmoak
Summary: A neighbors with adjacent balconies first half of S1 au.
Relationships: Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 8
Kudos: 135





	we tried the world (good god it wasn't for us)

**Author's Note:**

> for asiya. xx 
> 
> all our best ideas really come from snapchat spirals and here we are.

He  _ definitely _ lived here, she thought. She just hadn’t understood why he would take the fire escape up to his apartment when there was a perfectly good  building entrance with a working door and all. It was 4:33 A.M. and Felicity knew she should at least attempt to sleep after the long night in the IT department, but sleep had evaded her. So she did what she always did in times like these, she stepped out onto her apartment balcony, where she had set up a small chair and some plants that needed more care and took some time, a moment to breathe and take the  city in. 

It was a habit she had formed ever since she was little, when her mom was working a double shift and couldn’t have Felicity there with her, she’d get herself ready for bed and wait up for her. In that time, she’d watch out her window, the window of their small two-bedroom apartment right off the strip of Vegas, and if she’d squint just right, she could see the glittering lights of the hotels and casinos that surrounded them.  _ And maybe if she wished hard enough, her father would come back to them, come back to her. _

But she wasn’t in Vegas anymore, after graduating both high school and college early, at MIT nonetheless with double Masters in  Computer Sciences and Cyber Security, she had settled down into a nice cushy job in I.T. support at Queen Consolidated in Starling  City . She needed the reprieve of I.T. support, even if it meant she had to deal with technologically incompetent coworkers and superiors, but it paid for her apartment and who was she to complain about financial stability and a roof  over her head . And that roof presided in a neighborhood right outside the Glades, not too crazy but not too quiet. Which led her right back to where she was, standing on her balcony, wondering why Oliver Queen,  _ the _ Oliver Queen was sneaking back into his apartment next door in the middle of the night.

Oliver Queen, the scion of the Queen family of Queen Consolidated, the company where she was employed. So he was essentially her boss, or her boss’s boss’s boss. But he didn’t show any penchant for the company, being mistaken for dead while stranded on an island for years might have had something to do with it, but Felicity couldn’t say for sure. Back in 2007, he and the then-CEO, his father took a trip to the North China sea where a terrible storm led to the boat’s sinking and Oliver being the sole survivor. All everyone knew was that he had been stranded on a nearby island for the last five years until his rescue. Since his time back at home, the media had swarmed in on him, the Queen family and Queen Consolidated, pressing for more information on his time away, for any exclusive scoop they could get their  hands on .

Maybe he saw what she did with this apartment  building , a quiet escape, a place to get away and just be. That could explain how a billionaire ended up here on this side of the  city , far away from the Queen mansion she believed it was called and all the grandeur that came attached. The sound of his climbing closer broke Felicity out of her thoughts, as she took a quick glance. There was Oliver Queen, climbing up the fire escape to his apartment, donned in a sweater and cuffed jeans.

She went back to gazing at the  city , listening for whispers of others still awake or just waking as she saw from her peripherals that  he had pulled himself up onto his balcony. He must be quite familiar with pull-up, she had thought. It had not escaped Felicity’s attention that usually survivors who had gone missing or were stranded tended to be malnourished and meek, but Oliver Queen was not. She had seen pictures of him at the boss’s office and during a cursory internet search because she was curious, and he had definitely had more muscle than before the shipwreck. There were a lot of things about him that made her inquisitive, but she had yet to determine  whether or not it was worth digging into. 

She let herself be taken in by the sounds of the  city when she felt a chill up her spine, as if someone was watching. She tentatively turned to Oliver’s balcony to see him staring at her. They locked eyes on each other, their breaths peeking out from the small October night chill, neither saying a word. It was then Felicity realized, that in his eyes he held such pain. In that moment, she realized that whatever had happened to him on that island for those five years, it stayed with him now. His stance seemed defensive as if he was holding himself back, ready for any attack, it had been ingrained in him. 

She was the first to make a move and gave Oliver a small smile, a gesture of kindness, of comfort, hoping to communicate that he was okay, she was a friendly, she wasn’t one of the imaginative  _ “them _ ” he was readying himself for. Oliver responded to her small smile… by jetting inside his apartment and shutting his window. Felicity took it in kind, she had no idea of knowing what he had been through and clearly he was working through it. She wouldn’t take it personally. She only hoped she was effective in her efforts to present herself as a friend or more of an acquaintance. She took in the  city one last time and climbed back inside her apartment. Perhaps sleep would find her now before the bustling workday began. 

Oliver stood in his shower, the hot water running, fogging up the small bathroom as his thoughts focused in on the blonde  neighbor of his. That smile she gave him, it felt familiar to him.  _ But it couldn’t be _ , he thought. While his loved ones and the media thought he was on the island for those five years, only he knew the truth. Only he knew all that had happened during his time away, all that he had done, all that he had to yet to do. 

His promise to his father hung over him, his last words were “ _ Survive. Right my wrongs _ ,” before he watched his father take his own life. And now after weeks of being home, he had just started fulfilling his father’s promise. A notebook he left Oliver detailed a  list of Starling  City residents. He had already taken care of Adam Hunt and Martin Somers, just a few on the  list of local politicians, businessmen and other corrupt affluent citizens on the  List . The  List was his only mission, his drive and nothing could distract him from it, not even cute blondes. 

Again, his thoughts drifted to his blonde  neighbor . He wasn’t the friendliest  neighbor , he didn’t know much about her but she reminded him of a time a few years ago, a secret mission that led him back to his home when all his loved ones thought he was dead. Coming back during the mission should have made him happy but it only brought him more pain, seeing how his sister had grown up, seeing his best friend mourn him. 

While he never tried to remember that short trip, there was a small moment he kept going back to, a small moment where he didn’t feel like the Ollie who had left, or the Oliver that had been forged from the island, but felt like Oliver, an Oliver he could become. He was in the CEO office, what had once belonged to his father now being taken over by his mother. Just as he was leaving the office, he had heard movement and concealed himself. He could barely see but he saw a woman with glasses and blonde hair leave a file on his mother’s desk, but not without admiring an old picture of him and his father. He could make out what she was saying and smiled at her talking to herself and essentially talking to him through the picture. It was the first time since the boat went down that he had smiled, that he didn’t feel as if the island took everything from him, that underneath the torture and the trauma, there was still a piece of Oliver inside.

The following years would bury that piece deep inside him. Now, Oliver felt like there was nothing left to him but his mission, his father’s promise. He shook his head as if the physical movement would move her and the QC girl from his thoughts. He got out of the shower, it was nearing 5 am. The sun would soon rise and the Hood couldn’t be seen out in broad daylight. There was nothing he could do until nightfall so he dried himself off, put on sweatpants and prayed to whatever higher power that he would just pass out into a dreamless sleep. He knew it was futile and the nightmares would come but he felt better tackling them in the comfort of his apartment. His old room at the Queen mansion didn’t feel like him anymore, he wasn’t that Oliver anymore, and he didn’t need his family worried about him and constantly checking up on him, not with his plans. 

He laid himself on his bed and started taking note of his breathing until he fell into a meditative state. He cleared his thoughts, of the island, of his father, of the girl at QC, of his  neighbor , of it all and soon fell asleep. 

Oliver had a conundrum; he had managed to snatch Deadshot aka Floyd Lawton’s laptop from the Papp Motel before he had gotten away. However, the laptop had been riddled with bullet holes and this time his limited knowledge of technology would not aid him further in his mission. He had no idea where to go, he knew he would draw suspicion wherever he went. Maybe he could ask his step-father Walter if there was someone down in I.T. to help him, and then he could just slip into his “Ollie” mask and put on the charm should anyone ask more questions than necessary. 

It was nearing sunset and soon he could be out on the streets looking for Lawton, which gave him plenty of time to suffer through a family dinner in the hopes of asking Walter for I.T. support. He grabbed the laptop from his bedroom and headed out. The apartment didn’t come fully furnished and since his time on the island, he didn’t need much in terms of amenities. But Tommy wouldn’t stop teasing him about needing a couch and TV, he had missed out on so much pop culture. Oliver rolled his eyes, he didn’t have time for interior design and it wasn’t like he was going to be bringing many visitors over. He was locking up when he heard footsteps on the stairs. 

It was by instinct he had turned and made eye contact with his  neighbor holding a Big Belly Burger bag. She reciprocated and gave a small smile. “Hi, we haven’t officially met but I’m your  neighbor . Felicity. Felicity Smoak.”

He finished locking his door and turned to face her fully, “Oliver Queen.”

“Of course, I know who you are, Mr. Queen.”

“Oliver. Mr. Queen was my father.”

“Right, but he’s dead.” 

Felicity tried to backtrack, “I mean he drowned but you didn’t. Clearly,” she gestured to him, “Which means you can be in this apartment  building and listen to me babble… which will end in 3, 2.. 1.” She  bit her lips half out of frustration, half in hopes that it would hold her back from saying any more. 

Oliver didn’t say anything but Felicity could've sworn she saw a glint in his eyes. It was different than the other night, stormy blue eyes that hid such pain, now they seemed slightly brighter, as if his eyes were smiling, a smile he couldn’t fully convey himself. 

Felicity shook her head, “Anyways, I just wanted to welcome you into the  building . Neighbor to  neighbor .”

“Thank you, Felicity.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you at the office tomorrow then,?”

Oliver’s lips turned in confusion, “The office?”

“QC. Your mom. Step-dad. CEO. I work in the IT department and now I’m sharing a floor with my boss’s boss’ s boss’ s boss. Funny how things work out,” she joked.

The wheels were turning in Oliver’s head as the perfect opportunity presented himself. “Well, actually,” he pulled the laptop out to hold in front of her.

“I was just about to take my  computer out to repair. See, I was at my coffee shop the other day  surfing the web and I spilled a latte on it.” 

She took the laptop in his hands and assessed it. There was clearly no evidence of a coffee spill but she decided to entertain him… for now. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Because these look like bullet holes,” she looked him in the eyes to see if he would budge with the lie he was telling.

“My coffee shop is in a bad neighborhood,” he explained. 

He cleared his throat, “If there is anything you can salvage from it, I would really appreciate it.”

She turned her head sideways at him, trying to see if he would cave and tell the truth. Oliver just smiled, “ Neighbor to  neighbor .”

She gave the laptop another once over, “Sure. Shouldn’t take too long to salvage the hard drive. 

She fetched her keys out of her purse, “Would you like to come in?” She left the door to her apartment halfway open, giving Oliver the choice  whether or not to come in. She immediately headed to her bedroom to grab her own laptop and a few other tools. She came back into her living room space and saw Oliver standing in the middle of the room, hands behind his back, so unsure where to fit in with her apartment space. She sat herself down on her couch and set up her laptop. Oliver  followed suit and sat down on the couch, keeping a respectable distance between the two of them. 

Minutes passed as Felicity got to work. As she dug further and further into the damaged laptop’s hard drive, she knew for sure this wasn’t a coffee incident. She had two choices, confront Oliver now or…. Or she could play along with the lies and see if he would trust her. 

“It looks like blueprints.”

“Do you know what of?”

She turned to face him, “The Exchange  Building .”

“Never heard of it.” 

“It’s where the Unidac Industries auction is scheduled to take place.” Oliver looked confused.

She decided to  test the waters of his trust, “I thought you said this was your laptop.”

“Yes,” he nodded. He was obviously trying to hide something. 

“Look, I don’t want to get in the middle of some Shakespearean family drama thing.”

Still confused, Oliver asked “What?”

“Mr. Steele marrying your mom,” replied Felicity

“Claudius. Gertrude. Hamlet?” she elaborated.

“I didn’t study Shakespeare at any of the four schools I dropped out of,” he explained.

She paused and stared at him, reeling at his statement. “Mr. Steele is trying to buy Unidac Industries.”

“And you’ve got a company laptop associated with one of the guys he’s competing against.”

“Floyd Lawton.”

“No, Warren Patel.”

“Who’s Floyd Lawton?” she asked. 

“He is an employee of Mr. Patel’s, evidently,” he replied. 

The two sat in silence, Felicity trying to deduce exactly what Oliver was hiding, Oliver trying to figure out how to keep Felicity off his trail. She was obviously smart enough to  catch on soon enough. 

“It seems…” he was trying to worm out his way out of the first lie, “It seems I may have grabbed the wrong laptop at the coffee shop.”

“Mhmm,” Felicity didn’t believe his excuse but she would go along with it. 

“Thank you, Felicity. For helping me.”

“No problem, Mr. Queen.” she replied. 

“Oliver.”

“Oliver,” she corrected. 

Silence filled the room again and Oliver grabbed the laptop and took his leave. Felicity shouted from the couch, “See you around,  neighbor .”

He stopped and turned before he opened the door, giving her a small smile, “See you around,  neighbor .”

Oliver left Felicity sitting on her couch, wondering just who was Oliver Queen and what was he up to. She sat back and relaxed into the couch, that particular mystery would have to wait another day. For now, she would open a bottle of red, order in from her favorite restaurant and forget about the day. 

A cold November night in Starling  City and Felicity was again out on her balcony, a blanket perched over her shoulders shielding her from the slight chill in the air. Sure, nowadays there was an added danger to being out here so late at night, the hooded vigilante. Starling  City had its own Robin Hood, an emerald archer with a murderous vendetta against the rich and powerful. So no, Felicity wasn’t anywhere near the vigilante’s radar, but it just made her curious and curiouser. The timing of it all, Oliver Queen’s return to Starling  City from a remote island, the vigilante and his vendetta, the shooting at Unidac Industries shortly after Felicity had uncovered the blueprints for Oliver on his supposed laptop. There was something more going on, that she knew for sure. 

The thumping noise of EDM beats thrummed through her apartment walls, shaking her trinkets scattered around her apartment. Who has a house party on a Wednesday night, and in a quiet apartment  building too?, she thought. 

Oliver Queen, that’s who. Somehow the events of the last few days had not deterred his party-going ways and decided to throw himself a housewarming party slash house party to celebrate his house arrest. A few days ago, he had been arrested, accused of being the vigilante, the arrow-wielding killer that had been tormenting Starling’s own rich and elite. The same vigilante supposedly said to have saved his and his best friend’s life. But Oliver couldn’t be the vigilante, could he?

Back to the house party, there was a part of Felicity that wondered exactly what the party entailed. Horrible music was a given, but she had never heard or seen Oliver move any furniture into his apartment, in fact, she never saw him bring anything into his apartment. She wasn’t sure what Oliver had in his apartment but it seemed to be enough for his house guests given the shout of cheers from their shared wall just now. 

She took in a deep breath and exhaled wide, trying to drown out the rowdy ruckus next door. When that didn’t work, she took to her balcony. Hopefully, she wouldn’t run into any of the house guests. She wasn’t up for the awkward and idle small talk that would ensue. 

As she climbed out onto her balcony, she saw her companion for the night, it was indeed Oliver out on his own balcony. Why the host was absent from his own house party, she was unsure. She locked eyes with him and gave him a small smile. He glanced over at her and nodded, acknowledging her presence. 

She stood against the balcony railing, moments passing, sliding her arms down across and back to her until they held her as she leaned on the railing, her eyes trailing over the night sky. The night sky didn’t have much to offer her right outside the  city , but it was enough. It had always been enough and it always would be. She could still make out a few constellations from the sky, even if she didn’t get to attend space camp as a child. But now wasn’t the time to  open that old wound up again. 

She focused back on her nightly companion, his shoulders looked tense, he looked on guard. Granted, Oliver always seemed to be on guard, but surely he would’ve been inside, entertaining his guests or drinking his troubles away. 

“Nice party” she said in an attempt to try and make conversation. Looks like she wasn’t avoiding the idle chit chat tonight. 

That brought no response from him, that was fine with Felicity. She always did well on her own to fill the conversational gap. 

“So no rich guy to shoot an arrow at tonight?” she jokingly asked. Sure it was in poor taste, but there was something still off about Oliver Queen, off about the vigilante. And she wanted, no she needed to find out. 

“I would assume not, since you’re under house arrest and all,” she glanced down at his ankle, where his ankle monitor would be. She took his eyes off him and went back to staring out into the city. Guess he wasn’t going to budge. 

“I’m not the vigilante,” he stated. 

She turned back to face him, “But the city seems to think you are.”

“ _ Detective Lance _ seems to think I am,” he emphasized. 

He raised his arm and scratched his forehead.”He and I.. we don’t have the best relationship…. Especially since my return.”

Lance, Lance, she had read that name before somewhere. “Oh,” she knew she had said that out loud when she had meant for it to be in her head, but it was too late.

“Yeah, oh,” he sighed. 

She took a moment to raise her glasses back up and turned to face Oliver again.”You know you can’t beat yourself up over that. Your survivor’s guilt. It’s all completely natural given what you’ve faced.”

“But I’m the reason why she was on the boat,” he explained.

“She chose to go on the boat herself. You didn’t force her against her will. She freely chose to go with you. And you can’t keep blaming yourself for other peoples’ actions. It’s their life, their choice.”

She noticed a shift in Oliver’s posture, it was small but it was something. It was as if a weight had been taken off his shoulders, she watched as he exhaled deeply. 

“I should get back to my party.” He started to climb back into his apartment but not before looking at Felicity one last time.

“Thank you, Felicity.”

She returned his thanks with a smile, she didn’t need to ask him what for, she knew. She knew the small role she had played in helping him ease his guilt, ease the trauma of the last five years, whatever they had constrained. The ways in which he held himself on guard constantly told Felicity that she had offered him a small comfort that even his friends and family could not find. 

She smiled again, this time at herself proud of helping Oliver. She went back to gazing at the stars and briefly she closed her eyes, replaying their conversation. Slowly but surely the party next door faded into nothing as her sole focus singled on the thank you. 

Weeks had passed and while Oliver had been cleared of being the vigilante in Detective Lance’s and the city’s eyes, Felicity still had her suspicions. And his “friendly neighbor” requests only fueled her suspicions. Neighbors were supposed to ask each other to borrow a cup of sugar, maybe water some plants. He did still owe her a bottle of wine, but she suspected there was no wine in the first place. But no neighbor asked the other to investigate a military-grade security company for a “scavenger hunt” or find the company that designed custom made arrows for someone’s “archery hobby.” 

Granted, he did call her remarkable. She smiled thinking back on that moment before pushing it down. She couldn’t be thinking this way about him when she thought he was the vigilante. She still had the list of names of the vigilante’s victims she’d been keeping track of, trying to find a connection, but she’d have to dwell on it later. She shook her head, hopefully shaking her thoughts out, of Oliver, Oliver calling her remarkable, of the vigilante, of it all, trying to clear her head, grabbed her purse, and started walking, ready to take on the workday. 

She was locking up her apartment when she saw Oliver and his bodyguard John Diggle coming out of his. She noticed Oliver was walking weirder, almost lightheaded, maybe he was hungover. 

“Ah, Felicity, just who I wanted to see.”

“Morning, neighbor,” she greeted him. 

“And you remember John?” he added. 

“Good morning, Mr. Diggle.” she smiled. 

“You can call me John.” he smiled back. 

She focused her eyes back on Oliver who wasn’t looking too well. 

“You look like something the cat dragged in…” she backtracked. 

“Not that there are cats in this building, actually I think there might be. Something about being a pet-friendly building in my lease contract. But I don’t… I don’t have cats….” She closed her eyes, so much for starting her morning off right. 

Oliver cleared his throat, “Would you mind stepping away from the window for a moment? I have a little bit of a hangover.” 

She squeezed between the two men and turned to face them, but not without a witty remark, “Sounds like you need a Bloody Mary and a pretzel.”

“Actually, my buddy Kevin is starting an energy drink company. He says it’s fantastic for curing hangovers.”

He pulled something out of his jacket pocket, “But I am very particular about what it is I put in my body.”

She smiled, “I’ve noticed.” 

She immediately realized her faux pas, closing her eyes, she asked, “I said not noticed, right?” She looked at either one of them for an answer, something to diffuse the awkwardness that was ensuing. 

Mr. Diggle, no, John looks unfazed by her remark, but Oliver let out a small breathy laugh and tilted his head just a bit.  _ Kinda like I do _ , she thought.

“I’m trying to find a secret recipe. Could you please do a spectroanalyis of the sample and find out where in the city it’s made?” he asked, handing over what looked like a needle over to her. 

She grabbed the instrument utterly confused, she exhaled, “If it’s an energy drink, why is it in a syringe?”

This was it, she put the ball in his court. He could either come clean now, confess that he actually was the vigilante, or give her another confounded lie about what he was up to and what he was asking of her. 

“I ran out of sports bottles,” he replied. It was at that moment John had decided to start descending the stairs of their apartment building down to the front lobby. 

She looked at John leaving, clearly even he had enough of his lies. She looked back at Oliver still smiling at her. Part of her wanted to think it was genuine, but she knew it was all part of the act, the role he was still playing. Confused idle rich boy.

She reached into her purse and grabbed a napkin to cover the syringe. Hopefully, it would be concealed enough to get past QC security. She mouthed an “Okay” and walked past him and started heading down.

She caught John on the stairs and went ahead of him but not before saying “Your boss is into some weird stuff.”

John just chuckled, “You have no idea.”

_ It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. _ The thoughts kept racing in her head as she frantically paced around her living room. 

She knew she was way in over her head when she first accepted the offer to investigate for Walter. Sure, she was a little worried after Josiah Hudson was killed, but she still pursued it because it was the right thing to do. And now Walter was gone, her boss, her maybe friend had disappeared all because of the information she had uncovered for him.

She had to tell someone. 

There was something in the works in Starling City and she knew she was getting closer and closer to the answer. The little notebook weighing down her purse was the answer to it all, the answer to Walter’s kidnapping, the key to all the vigilante’s victims, the key to Oliver Queen. Oliver, now he was a part of the equation she hadn’t quite figured out. Everything about him screamed to her that he was the vigilante, the late hours he kept, his aloof nature, the weird neighborly requests he asked of her that always seemed to toe the line between legality and just plain strange. 

But he was cleared of the accusations against him.  _ But that would be the perfect cover _ , she thought. Immediately clear yourself of being the vigilante to people who look the other way and don’t notice you or your actions. The more she thought about it, the more it all added up to Oliver being the vigilante. 

And the names on the notebook, she hadn’t had a chance to look into all the names in there but some of them she definitely recognized, recognized as in the vigilante had killed them already. So was the notebook his kill list, and if it was why did Walter find it in the Queen mansion? 

She couldn’t deal with the what-ifs anymore, she needed to do something. Whatever happened to her, she could manage, but she needed to do something, for Walter at least. She mustered up all her courage and went out to her balcony. She had to go to him on his terms, and Oliver didn’t seem to be fond of doors so here she was. She went over to the edge of her balcony and knocked on the wall connecting them, hoping he could hear the noise. 

The window slid open and he peeked his head out, his face posing the unspoken question,  _ Are you okay? _

Her voice faltered, “Could I talk to you about something?”

He nodded in response and climbed out, meeting her at the edge of his balcony. Despite being a foot or so away, she still saw his invisible guard. He met her eyes and she smiled. She watched his body deflate just a little and that made her smile even more. 

She watched him rest his hands on the balcony railing just as she did. Somehow, she took comfort in his mirroring her actions. He looked at her waiting for her to speak. 

She wasn’t even sure where to start, whether she should be upfront with him,  _ I know you’re out at night tying up and killing people in green leather and I need your help because I got your step-father kidnapped. _ That would go over well. 

She took in the cold December air, feeling thankful she had her blanket perched over her shoulders when she came outside. The blanket acted as a form of armor and she drew on it for strength. She raised her glasses up and pinched the bridge of her nose. She needed to say something and say it soon. 

She took a deep breath and exhaled, looking down she started, “The thing is…. I’ve been debating whether or not to share this with you for a while.”

“You can talk to me, Felicity,” he replied. There was something about his voice that calmed Felicity. Maybe their time being neighbors had softened his guard or his guard around her at least. 

She looked up at him, she needed to see his eyes for her question. He may be able to tell her outrageous lies, but his eyes, his eyes would always tell her the truths she was looking for and they never faltered. 

“Can I trust you?” she asked. 

She continued before he could answer, she scoffed, “I’m not an idiot. I know you dropped some fairly ridiculous lies on me, and yet… I still feel like I can trust you.”

He said nothing but kept his eyes on her.

She chuckled at his lack of response, “Why is that?”

She watched as if the cogs in his head turned and watched him switch his “Ollie mask” on but she didn’t want Ollie. She wanted Oliver, her Ol-, just Oliver.

He smirked, “I have one of those faces.”

She deflated, she felt disappointed. She wanted him to take his mask off and she had hoped whatever friendliness there was between them, call them neighbors, call them acquaintances, whatever it was, she thought she had earned Oliver without his mask, just Oliver. 

He scratched his head and tucked his head down, not meeting her eyes, “Sorry.”

He looked back up at her and nodded, “Yes. You can trust me.”

“Then I have something to show you.”

She rushed back into her apartment, “Hold on.”

She grabbed the notebook from her purse and ran back out. She held it up before him, “Have you ever seen this before?”

She scanned him, perusing for any slips, any crack in his shell that would tell her she was right for trusting him, telling her that he was the vigilante. All she was was a steel shell around him as his whole demeanor roughened. Even more, he seemed paranoid, his eyes searching around her, around his peripheral for any sort of a threat. 

“No,” he replied.  _ He’s lying. _

“Where’d you get it?” he asked.

She wouldn’t lie to him, even if he would lie to her. Little by little, she would crack that shell of his. She answered him, “From your step-father.”

“From Walter?” he needed to know more. 

“Um, well, where did he get it?”

“He said he found it in your house,” she answered him. 

There was more, “That it belongs to your mother.”

He was going to ask another question but she continued on, fully explaining why she had asked to talk, “Walter thought she was hiding something. Something more, and… he wanted me to look into it but then he vanished.”

She took another deep breath, her voice faltered, “I think this list may have cost him his life.”

Oliver gulped, the two stood there in silence, eyes locked, waiting to see who would cave first and speak. 

Oliver needed to calculate his next move very carefully. His beguiled “Ollie” ways wouldn’t work on her as she made it very clear. But he also couldn’t tell her, couldn’t tell her he was the vigilante, he couldn't tell her that he had seen the notebook before. That very notebook had been the last thing his father gave to him. That very notebook was what he clung to for survival for the last five years. He couldn’t do it, not just yet, no matter that there was some part of him deep inside screaming to tell her and unload all his secrets onto her. That his body betrayed him constantly at her presence no matter how hard he tried to keep his guard up around her, around everyone. That within mere moments of meeting her, she made him feel lighter, lighter than he had been in ages. 

But he couldn’t do any of that tonight. 

Instead, he replied defeatedly, “I’ll talk to John about this.” He didn’t bother looking at her, he took his leave and climbed back into his apartment. 

He grabbed his phone and walked out into his empty living room, hoping she couldn’t hear him from the distance.

He dialed John’s number and skipped the greetings, “There’s been a development.”

“What happened?” John asked on his line. 

“She knows.”

All Oliver heard on the line was John laughing in the background. He knew he would mock him. John knew Felicity being the clearly intelligent person she was, would figure it out soon enough. 

“There’s more. She has The List. She says Walter found it at the Queen mansion. That it was my mother’s copy.”

This time, there was nothing but silence on the line. 

“Meet me at the Foundry.” He ended the call. He had no idea what to do about Felicity. He couldn’t bring her into the fold, he reluctantly brought John in and when he did, there was a pushback from him. 

But Felicity, she was just a civilian, an innocent. And Oliver couldn’t bring his crusade into her life. He couldn’t do that to her, she deserved better. And he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if anything happened to her. Especially if she was the girl from his mother’s office all those years ago. But that didn’t matter right now. 

There were so many uncertainties lying around them, the only certainty he had right now was that he needed a target to take out his frustrations on right now. He hadn’t decided his next move with Felicity yet for tonight, that could wait. 

Felicity stood there on the balcony alone and speechless. She mustered up whatever energy she still had and went back into her apartment. Only when she closed the window did she let herself feel the culmination of the last few weeks and started crying. Walter was gone because of her and when she tried to confide in Oliver, he just left her without any explanation. 

She didn’t have anyone. Walter was just her boss, they were just professionals. And her coworkers down in the IT department were too dimwitted or misogynistic to ever pursue a friendship with them so she had mainly kept to herself. 

He probably didn’t believe her, she thought. After all, she did just accuse his mother of having her husband, his step-father kidnapped. She wiped the tears off her face. She needed to do more. After years of pushing back that side of hers with what happened to Cooper, she needed to help someone this time. She was going to find Walter and make sure he was okay. She wasn’t going to be responsible for another death. She wiped the stray tears and straightened herself, she just needed more proof. 

It was a regular Wednesday night from work and Felicity was walking to her car in the building’s parking garage, mentally noting her evening’s plans. She hadn’t done her laundry yet and that needed to be taken care of soon. She could probably do it tonight and stay up. She hadn’t been sleeping since she went and talked to Oliver about what she had found. Something still didn’t sit right with her. And she was still trying to put the pieces together, all of it. She fished her keys out of her purse and got in the car. 

Before she could start the engine, she heard groaning, “Ohh.” Her body went on full alert at the strange voice. 

She turned and saw a body hunched over in green leather, their face shrouded in a hooded mask. The vigilante. He was shot. 

“I’m not going to hurt you, Felicity,” the vigilante exclaimed.

_ Shit, he knows who I am.  _ “How do you know my name?” she asked. 

She watched the vigilante take off their hood, and suddenly everything made sense. “Because you know mine.”  _ Oliver.  _

“Oliver, oh, wow.” She had her suspicions but she still couldn’t process what was in front of her. 

“Everything about you just became so unbelievably clear,” she added. 

She gave him another once-over, taking it all in. That was when she noticed the bleeding on his chest.  _ Did he get shot in the building?  _ "Oh my god, you’re bleeding.”

“I don’t need to be told that,” he grunted out.

“You need a hospital.” 

“No, no hospital,” he barely got out the words. She could tell he was losing consciousness soon. She had no idea what to do. She couldn’t take him to the hospital. She certainly had no medical experience to treat a gunshot wound.

“Felicity, you have to promise me that you are not going to take me to the hospital,” his voice was fading.

“Yeah, promise.” She stuck the keys in the ignition and tried to calculate her course of action. Her apartment was conspicuous enough and she had some first aid supplies. She could make do. 

“Call Diggle. Password… 4...7...3...3..6..” Oliver then fainted. 

She turned back to Oliver now unconscious and inspected him for his phone. After finding it in a hidden pocket, thankfully nowhere near incriminating, she unlocked his phone and dialed John’s number. 

John answered immediately, “Oliver, what happened? The news says your mother shot you?”

“Oh my god, Mrs. Queen shot him?” she exclaimed. His own mother. Well granted, she didn’t know her son was running around shooting the corrupt rich and elite in green leather. 

“Felicity? Is that you? Where’s Oliver?” 

“He’s been shot. He’s bleeding.” 

“How bad is it?”

“Bad. He just passed out.”

“Shit.”

“He said I can’t take him to the hospital.”

“They’ll ask too many questions.”

“Can you bring him to the old Queen Steel factory?”

She looked back at Oliver, trying to assess what to do based on his condition, “No, I don’t think he’ll make it.”

“Can you bring stuff to our building? I might be able to make it to my apartment.”

“I’ll be right over. Meet you outside the building.”

“Thank you, John.”

“Hurry, Felicity.” 

That was the fastest drive back to her apartment, she was sure she broke every speeding law in the state but that didn’t matter. Oliver was the only thing that mattered right now. Besides, she could always go back and “fix” the traffic cameras.

She spotted John anxiously pacing the front of their apartment building with a big crate she could only assume was full of potential medical equipment they would need. 

She parked out front and rushed out front, “Can you help me?”

“He’s really heavy,” she added. Diggle rushed over and helped her in carrying Oliver up to the building. Hopefully, none of the other tenants were out and about right now, they didn't need to run into anyone. They especially couldn’t answer their questions. 

“Oh, damn it.” 

She looked at John waiting for an explanation. “He just missed a carotid. It’s a zone two wound.”

He took a handkerchief out of his suit jacket pocket and pressed down on the wound as he continued carrying him through their small lobby and up the stairs to their floor. 

“I should have taken him to a hospital,” she cried. She was distressed. She was way in over her head here. She had no idea of knowing how they could even help Oliver. 

John assuages her, “No, Felicity. You promised him not to take him to a hospital. He knew the police would want to know how and why he got the wound. 

They got to their floor and she quickly grabbed her keys and went to unlock her door, her hands slightly shaking from the anxiety. 

“I’m guessing how and why are Oliver Queen’s least favorite questions.”

“Yeah, well, there’s also when and where he’s not too fond of.”

“So if we can’t bring him to the hospital,” she got the key through and unlocked her door, letting them inside. 

“We bring the hospital to him,” he answered. 

“Here, on the couch.” She watched as he set her laying up on her couch, her small couch. He was so big compared to her couch, it was almost comical at this time. 

She saw John open up the crate of his he brought over, “Is that…”

“Yeah, his blood. He stored it for a rainy day,” he answered. “And I say right now, it’s pouring.”

“Do you know what you’re doing?” she asked him. 

“Yeah, I had some medical training in the army,” he answered. “I just hope it’s enough.”

“Remember playing Operation when you are a kid?”

“Yes,” she answered with a gulp. 

“And it never made me wanna throw up,” she joked as her hand shook while trying to put on medical gloves

John stopped Felicity, “Hey, Felicity, listen, trust me. He’ll be fine. He’s been through a lot worse than this.”

Minutes passed as Felicity watched John do his work in patching up Oliver. He had managed to dig out the bullet that pierced him and was finishing stitching up the wound. 

She watched him, “Good job, I think.”

“His heart rate’s elevated but at least the bleeding stopped. Thanks for your help. You kept your head on,” he said to Felicity. 

She smiled at John’s praise, “Well. I always wondered how I’d react if I found my boss shot and bleeding inside my car.” 

She bit her lip, “Not that I helped because he’s my boss. I’d help anyone who was shot and bleeding in my car.” 

“I was thinking all of this would be more of a shock. What, are you saying you called this all along?” he inquired. 

“I’m not saying anything, except that as far as neighborly requests go, Oliver has brought me a laptop riddled with bullet holes, had me trace a black arrow, and research a company involved in armored car heists.”

She raised her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, “I may be blonde but I’m not that blonde.”

“And don’t think I’ve forgotten the syringe full of surprise surprise, not an energy drink but Vertigo,” she added. 

“Yeah, Oliver’s not too great with the cover stories,” John explained. 

“So why come to me?” she asked. 

“Hard as it is probably is for him to admit, even Oliver needs help sometimes.”

Before they could continue their conversation, a beeping interrupted them. John immediately attended to Oliver. 

“What’s happening?” she asked worried. 

He pointed to the crate, “There’s a syringe labeled Ativan. It should stop the seizure. Go.”

“His heart stopped,” John exclaimed. 

“Wait, what are you doing?” she asked as she watched him carry out what looked like a defibrillator. 

“You know how to use one of those?” she inquired. 

“We are about to find out.” He rubbed the two paddles together building up the charge.. 

“You didn’t say clear!” she shouted. She watched as John pressed the paddles down to Oliver’s seizing body but nothing happened.

“Wait, I heard the charge,” she exclaimed. “That’s good news.’

“How’s that?” John asked.

“It means it might not be the machine, it could be the wiring. Hold on,” she grabbed a screwdriver from her junk drawer in the kitchen and rushed to his side. She gave the machine a quick scan and adjusted some wires. 

“Come on, come on, come on, come on,” John was getting nervous. 

“Here,” she shouted, “Try again.”

He charged up the paddles again and shocked Oliver, “Clear,” 

“What the hell did you do?”

“I’ve been building computers since I was seven,” John looked impressed at Felicity’s statement. 

“Wires are wires,” she added. She felt so cool right now.

“So what do we do now?” she asked. 

“Pray we don’t have a heart attack ourselves.” He turned off the defibrillator and put the device back in the crate. He situated himself on one of the chairs by her small dining table and exhaled. Something told Felicity they had a long night ahead of themselves. 

Minutes passed into hours. It had seemed like Oliver was heading towards a great recovery through the night until John and Felicity were awakened by the heart monitor John had set up when they started. They quickly got themselves out of their sleepy state on her dining table and rushed to Oliver’s side.

“He’s going into cardiac arrest again.” He began to search for the defibrillator again

“No,” Felicity stopped John as she was examining Oliver. “Ahh, the leads just came loose.” She fixed the leads and the heart monitor soon silenced.

“Arggh!” John shouted out in frustration.

“Felicity shushed him, “Shhh, I still have other neighbors to worry about.”

“It’s less stressful when he’s jumping off when he’s jumping off rooftops,” John stressed.

He went back to the dining table all frustrated and took a seat, Felicity joined him soon after and they sat for a few minutes in silence. Felicity surveyed her living room area, never would she have imagined having a guy all over her couch recovering from a gunshot, from a guy who was a vigilante nonetheless.

“That bow of his has put arrows in quite a few people,” she needed something to fill the silence. She also needed to know more about Oliver.

“Yeah, bad people.” John knew exactly where this conversation was headed. 

“That doesn’t bother you?” she asked.

“Because…” she looked at him to explain, “And I mean this in a good way, but you seem like the kind of guy it would bother.”

John unfolded his hands and leaned back against his chair, settling in to tell his story to Felicity. “When I was in Afghanistan, my unit was protecting this local warlord, Gholem Qadir. Qadir was less than human, sold opium, sold children. One day, we were accompanying him to Mosul when my convoy was ambushed by insurgents. We had them outgunned. Firefight didn’t last more than a minute. When the smoke cleared, I moved in on their position, they were all dead. I knew which one I had killed. When I pulled off his scarf, I could see it was just a kid, no more than 18. Shot him in the throat. I killed this kid to protect this human piece of garbage, and I thought, am I still good? Am I still a good man?”

He sat up again and laid his hands down on the dining table, “Doing this with Oliver, doing what we do, I feel good again for the first time in a long time.”

“And that’s worth all the collateral damage?” 

“I haven’t killed anyone if that’s what you’re asking.”

“But he has,” she moved her head to gesture to her couch, currently holding an unconscious vigilante.

“Unfortunately, there are always casualties when you’re fighting a war.” That was all John could give Felicity. He knew that Felicity would make a great addition to the team, neither he nor Oliver would technologically adept, and clearly she was. She had more than proved herself tonight. But the killing, that’s what separated John and Oliver from Felicity. In a sense, they were both soldiers who had been in a war, and Felicity was still just a civilian, untouched by the toll war takes on a soldier. But seeing Felicity and her capabilities tonight, John was sure that Felicity could more than handle herself and handle being an asset to them. 

Another hour or so had passed as Felicity and John waited for Oliver to wake up, the final step in assessing his recovery from the gunshot wound and their attempts at treating him. She and John kept themselves occupied, becoming fast friends. 

Felicity had long since changed into her clean pj's and dumped her bloodstained clothes. She would have offered John a change of clothes but not even her most oversized hoodie could fit his arms. John assured her that he had a change of clothes in the trunk of his car and graciously declined. 

At one point in the night, Felicity had brought out her laptop, she wasn’t officially a part of Oliver’s crusade, but she’d bet he’d need some clearing up the incident at QC from the police. It was the neighborly thing to do. 

She was working up another fresh batch of coffee for her and John when finally they heard Oliver waking up. She and John went over to him acclimating to his surroundings. 

“Guess I didn’t die. Again.” He looked around the room. He was back in Felicity’s apartment. Her living room, to be exact. “Cool.”

John rolled his eyes and walked away from Oliver. Felicity just smiled at him and left Oliver to himself. He needed to slowly get back into things but something told Felicity he wasn’t one to follow doctor’s orders. 

Soon enough Oliver was upright and sitting on Felicity’s couch, slowly trying to push a grey blanket over his arms. In the process to treat Oliver’s wound, John had to tear apart his undershirt, leaving him shirtless around the apartment. Felicity had loaned him her mirror so he could assess John’s stitching. 

“It’s not bad,” he said, seeing the stitch work. He looked at John sitting against the arm of the couch, “So how am I going to explain this one?”

“Hickey gone wrong?” he joked. Oliver glared at John, then all of a sudden they heard Felicity coughing and turned to her. She assured the boys she was fine and continued her work on her laptop. Oliver slowly got up and went to meet her at her dining table. He didn’t sit down but stood towering in front of her. 

“The police collected a sample of your blood at Queen Consolidated. I just hacked the crime lab and ordered the sample destroyed.” She typed a few more commands on her keyboard. “Oops. Heh.”

“So….” she looked up at Oliver, “So you  _ are _ the vigilante?”

Again, he said nothing but pursed his lips.

“ _ And  _ you knew about your mother.”

He pointed a finger at her, “Now that I did not know about… so… Thank you.”

He examined the tabletop, all strewn around it were scribbles of notes on supplies and software.  _ She wants to help you, even after what she saw _ , he thought. 

“Does that mean you’re in?” he gestured to her workspace.

“You mean as in I’m going to join your crusade?” 

“Well, you’re practically an honorary member of the team already.” He gave her a small smile. He was out of practice just being himself, but he hoped he conveyed that he was being genuine and not “Ollie.” He hated being him and Felicity hated him even more. 

“Hmm. So John said,” she sat there thinking about the offer. No doubt, she had already made her choice but it couldn’t hurt to act like she didn’t.”

“No.” she explained, “I want to find Walter.”

“My step-father,” he stated.

“He was nice to me,” she said so matter-of-factly.

“And John may have let it slip that the notebook you use to fight crime is the same notebook that got Walter abducted.” He cursed John at that moment for revealing that piece of information to her. 

“I’ll help you rescue him but that’s it,” she nodded. “Then I want to go back to my boring life of being an I.T. girl.” 

“Okay.”

“And the second thing. I would like a new couch.”

He stared at Felicity, tilting his head sideways in confusion.

“Bloodstains aren’t exactly easy to clean.”

“Deal.” He laid his hand out for her to shake on their agreement. She met his and they shook on their agreement, both of them ignoring how natural it felt to hold the other’s hand. After releasing their hands, Felicity immediately went back to her laptop, trying to look busy, ignoring how big his hand felt in hers. And Oliver went back over to John as if they had urgent matters to discuss, pushing down the part of him that craved to hold her hand again after feeling how small and perfect they fit in his. 

“Do we have a team name or something?” Felicity asked from the dining table.

“We  _ don’t  _ do that,” Oliver answered with a glare. 

Soon it was morning and Starling City was just waking up. John and Oliver showed themselves out of Felicity’s apartment. Oliver was well enough to rest in his own apartment now and Felicity needed to get ready for QC and act like it was just another normal day, like she hadn’t spent the night helping heal the vigilante who snuck into her work building and threatened their CEO. 

As Felicity was readying herself, she was starting to understand just how exhaustive it was Oliver to keep up his persona and how she had to keep up one of her own now too. With that, she left her apartment for work. She stared at Oliver’s door for a while, wondering whether or not she should check in on him, make sure he hadn’t torn through his stitches, but instead her mind wandered on when they held hands for a brief moment. She decided against it and headed on out of her building. 

No matter how hard Felicity tried to soothe her feelings and enjoy being out on her balcony, her thoughts lingered back to Oliver and she was fuming. She had walked out on the team tonight if she could even call it a team. A team implied leadership and mutual respect for partners and tonight had felt more like a dictatorship. Oliver wouldn’t budge on his myopic view of helping the city but Felicity knew there was more good he could do for the city, that he could be more than he thought he was, even if he didn’t see it himself. But Felicity would not sit around and be treated like that by anyone so she had left. She had come back home, taken a hot bath, changed into her pajamas, took her couch blanket out to the balcony, and had been lounging out here since then. She needed to take her mind off everything tonight. 

She had closed her eyes, trying to focus on anything but Oliver and his stubborn ways when she heard a soft clatter. She immediately straightened her spine, she was on alert and tried to locate the source of the noise. She looked down and saw Oliver, not in green leather but his normal clothes, trying to climb up his own balcony again. 

She watched him reach his own balcony when she spoke, “You know you  _ do _ have a front door, right?” 

Oliver didn’t bother with a response but instead gave her a pointed look. Felicity would have thought he was angry but his eyes never lied to her, and there was a glint in his eyes, almost if he wanted to smile, wanted to laugh but he couldn’t. 

He had climbed up onto his balcony and turned to her, “Could we talk?”

She nodded.  _ Two can play this game _ , she thought. 

Despite Oliver being the one who wanted to talk, there was no actual talking yet. He seemed on edge, frustrated, something was up. Felicity couldn’t pinpoint why but she never minded filling in the silence. 

“You know, I had a bet going on with myself on how quickly you would visit.” 

She danced her fingers along the balcony railing, “Tell me not to reveal your secret. Looks like I won.”

He scratched the back of his head,  _ He looked nervous _ , she thought. “Actually, Felicity. I was hoping that I could get you to change your mind.”

He continued, “I was worked up on adrenaline earlier, and I didn’t exactly put my best foot forward.” 

He put his hands on the railing, his knuckles looked white, almost raw, “I was hoping you’d give me the opportunity to do that now.”

“How about you start with Ken Williams?” she asked. 

“Did he also get to enjoy your adrenaline tonight?”

“No, he returned the money that he stole just in time to put his son in bed,” he locked eyes with her hoping to convey that he wasn’t misleading her.

He then turned his head down, not looking her in the eyes, “Like I said, Felicity. Just a warning.” 

_ He doesn’t want me to see him as the monster he thinks he is, _ she realized. Feeling surprised by these feelings of her, she had no idea how to confront them or Oliver at this time. She did know he was serious and it must have been hard for him to apologize. 

She wasn’t sure what to do or even say and that didn’t come easily to her. Oliver seemed to be drowning in his own thoughts and she wasn’t sure how to bring him out. Tentatively, she reached across their two balconies, and softly, she swiped her thumb across his knuckles. 

“My father,” he exhaled at her touch, “He made it onto the boat with me.” He looked up at her again, sensing she would be confused given his public statement. 

He continued on hoping to fully explain to Felicity, “He made it onto the boat with me and a crew member. We were floating for a while. We weren’t gonna make it. He had a gun with him, he shot the crew member and then himself. His last words were  _ Survive.  _ When I first got to the island, I buried him. The notebook, The List, that was his copy, it’s all I have left of him. This crusade, the killing, it’s all to honor his promise, his sacrifice.”

“But you can be more than this crusade, Oliver.” She took her hand and placed it on top of Oliver’s. They stood there silent, her hand on top of his as the vestiges of night turned into morning. 

She would have to be getting ready for work soon. She took her leave but not before telling Oliver, “Good night, Oliver.”

But Oliver stopped her, “So will I- we see you tomorrow night?”

She smiled at him, “See you tomorrow, Oliver.”

He smiled back, “Good night, Felicity.”

Felicity was tiptoeing the line between tipsy and drunk but she didn’t care. Hours ago, the Dodge had put a bomb collar on her neck leading Oliver on a high-speed chase to remove the threat off her neck. Felicity had never been so nervous in her life but she trusted in Oliver and he didn’t let her down. After the events of the auction, she had jokingly suggested that they all go out for margaritas after their first official team mission and much to her surprise, Oliver had agreed. 

And here they were at a restaurant not too far from their apartment building, downing a pitcher of margaritas, or at least Felicity was. Unfortunately, the boys had resorted themselves to drinking beer.  _ Men _ , she rolled her eyes. 

She was snuggling up in John’s oversized suit jacket, he had loaned it to her as she was chilly in the gold dress of hers when John coughed grabbing her attention. 

He looked at her like she was losing her mind, “I’m cold,” she admonished him. He just chuckled and gave Oliver some sort of look. 

John got an alert from his phone, “Looks like Carly needs a ride.”

He was getting up to leave when he asked, “Do you two need a ride back to your place?”

“We’ll be fine, John. Go, go to Carly.” Oliver answered for him to Felicity. She didn’t mind really, the apartment wasn’t too far and she knew she was in good hands with Oliver. Reluctantly, she took the jacket off and handed it back to John. It wouldn’t be fair to hold onto it for much longer. 

“Good night, John.” She greeted her friend goodbye as Oliver was taking care of their tab.  _ Guess there were some perks to being rich _ , she thought. 

Before the two of them started heading out, Oliver unbuttoned his jacket and handed it to Felicity. She looked at him in confusion. 

“You said you were cold,” not giving much of an explanation.

She took the jacket with a smile and welcomed the shelter it brought against the chilly air. The two walked back to their apartment in silence but the silence was different this time, more charged but companionable. Felicity didn’t even bother trying to fill in the silence, she had sobered up a bit but she still didn’t trust her brain uninhibited. 

They both walked with their hands to themselves, just barely touching the other, missing each other, and almost catching each other with each step they took. She glanced at their hands and wondered what it would be like to just grab his hands and put it in hers and walk along the street together. She almost thought she saw Oliver glancing at her and their hands too but she shook that aside. The air seemed thicker and thicker with tension as they inched closer to their building. 

They reached their building and Felicity stopped them, “Here,” she took off the jacket and handed it back to Oliver. She pulled the skirt of her dress down just a bit, it was form-fitting, tight, there wasn’t much to pull at but she was about to climb the stairs with Oliver and couldn’t handle the embarrassment if she gave him a show. 

Oliver seemed to sense her frustration and instead of putting the jacket back on, he threw it around her waist and tied the arms. He was standing right before her, she could tilt her head up and she’d reach his chin with their height difference, even with the heels she was wearing to help her. 

Before she could say anything, he headed up the stairs and she followed behind. When they reached their floor, he didn’t stop before his place, but instead in the middle between their apartments. She stopped right before him as he had earlier. 

“Thank you,” was all she said. 

Again, that silence was back but this time Felicity was fidgeting. She wanted to make a move, wanted Oliver to make a move, anything. There was something between them, but she was hesitant. Oliver had a lot to work through himself and she respected that, if he wasn’t ready, then he wasn’t ready. 

“Felicity,” he whispered ever so softly. 

She slowly gazed up at him, searching his eyes for an answer. No matter what he said, his eyes would never lie to her, he couldn’t hide that from him. 

She moved her head closer, if someone was going to make a move, it was going to be her. Her lips met his slowly, giving him time to back out if he wanted to. But he didn’t. He wanted this. He wanted this since he met her and she introduced herself as his neighbor, maybe even before all this, when she was in his mother’s office saying he looked cute for a dead person. He moved his hand up to caress her neck and held her face as he took control of the slow kiss, slowly escalating the kiss. 

It was Felicity who stopped the kiss, the need to take a breath consuming her. Oliver still held her to him, so close they were sharing stolen breaths. She didn’t know what this meant for him, for her, for them, if there was even a possibility of them, but they didn’t need to talk about it now. For now, she would enjoy this moment right here for what it was, a step forward.

She took a step back, this time Oliver letting her go. She untangled the jacket around her waist and handed it back to Oliver.

She reached her apartment door and glanced back at Oliver, “Good night, Oliver.”

He smiled at her, “Good night, Felicity.”

“Do we really need these movers?” Felicity asked, frustrated. She was running around the loft trying to find her boyfriend amongst all the boxes and the movers. 

“John, Thea, and Roy will be here in an hour and they are more than enough help.” She was scurrying around the living room area when she spotted Oliver out on the balcony. Of course she would find him on the balcony. Over the last two years, it had become their spot. It started out as her thing but now it was their thing and she loved him all the more for it. 

“John is about to be a father any day now and Roy and Thea are caught up taking care of the club, they have enough on their plates already,” he answered as he heard her coming up to the balcony.

“You just don’t want anyone messing with your tech,” he joked. 

Oh, he had all the jokes now. Being with Felicity had made me feel lighter than he had in years. He finally felt like just Oliver, a better version of Oliver. One with no masks. She brought a sense of inner peace to him and being with her was the best decision he had made. 

He turned around to greet her with a kiss. She happily accepted his kiss and soon any frustrations over the movers had flown away. 

She broke the kiss, “You can’t keep doing that just to keep me quiet,” she gave a playful shove of his shoulder. 

“Who said anything about keeping you quiet?” He smirked and then pulled her in for another kiss. 

As they broke apart again, she caught a glimpse of the couch being brought in by the movers. But there was one problem, that wasn’t her old couch. 

“Oliver, where’s our- well, my couch?” she asked. 

“Well, you did say I owed you a new couch. Consider it owed,” he replied. 

Of course, he would try to turn his old promise to her into a romantic gesture. All she could do was smile at his response. He did owe her a new couch for so long but she half-meant it as a joke. And as their relationship progressed, it meant nothing to her and it was forgotten. But he still remembered and he had intended to honor their deal and more. She had no idea about the engagement ring of his burning a hole in his back pocket. He knew that one day he would ask her. But for now he settled for another kiss from his girlfriend, christening their new shared apartment balcony. 

**Author's Note:**

> she's back bby!!! anyways, thank u for reading to the end. kudos and comments are always appreciated. xx


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